Bookpleasures.com welcomes as our guest Renee Linnell. Renee is a former surf model, a professional Argentine Tango dancer, and a serial entrepreneur with an Executive Masters in Business Administration from New York University. She made her publishing debut in 2018 with The Burn Zone, a memoir of her experience as a cult survivor. She now has published her second book, Still on Fire: A Memoir. Renee divides her time between Colorado and South Florida.  


Credit: In Her Image Photo

 Norm: Good day Renee and thanks for taking part in our interview.

What is the one thing other people always seem to get wrong about you?

Renee: This question made me laugh! One of the major things is: because I am so tiny they always assume I am vegetarian or eat only salads, which I don't. I have a ravenous appetite.

Anytime I order a heavy meal at a restaurant the server places it in front of whomever I am dining with. Also, people often assume I'm an extrovert because I love to dance and will dance anywhere, but I am a true introvert. 

Norm: What do you feel is the most overrated virtue and why? 

Renee: What an interesting question! I would say loyalty to a country or group. I know this after my cult experience.

Anytime we override our own intuition or critical thinking in order to stay loyal to a person, country, belief system, or group we do ourselves and the world a disservice.

We are born with such powerful Inner Guidance and we are taught to override it when we are children, in order to please the adults around us. In an effort to be "loyal" to others, we often betray ourselves.

I believe it is self-betrayal that causes so much sadness, anger, despair, and destruction in the world.

Norm:What has been your greatest challenge (professionally) that you’ve overcome in getting to where you’re at today? 

Renee: Belief in myself. I had to fight to keep "The Burn Zone" written my way, in my voice, telling my story.

The first publishing company I was with wanted me to change my writing style and sanitize my story.

As a new author I went along with the changes for awhile, but cried every time. Finally I had to honor what my emotions were signaling to me, leave the publisher, and find a new one.

The same thing happened with my marketing journey: In the beginning I was trying to be who the book world needed me to be in order to "appeal to a larger target market."

I was also asked to be on the Today Show (every new author's dream,) but was told I would have to reveal the names of my spiritual teachers (which I took great pains to disguise--in order to make the story about me and my own healing.)

I chose being authentic and being at peace over selling books. These were very tough choices for a new author to make, but I knew in my heart they were the right choices and the book sales would still come. 

Norm: How do you deal with criticism?

Renee: I hate it. (laughing) It hurts every time. But, I accept it. I listen to it. I allow it to percolate. I ask myself if any of it is true, if I could make some upgrades based on it.

And then I let it go. I have learned most criticism from other people is a projection of them onto me, and has nothing to do with me.

But, I always check in with myself to assess if they are offering me a glimpse into an area of self where I am not seeing clearly or have blinders on. I also dislike criticism of my writing, however I know my thoughts and words are not for everyone.

Because I express so honestly my view of the world, I know it will rub some people the wrong way and outright offend or anger others.

I'm okay with it. I hate conflict so I used to be a people-pleaser. Everyone loved me then, but I wasn't being authentic--I was shifting and molding myself to be whomever I thought they needed me to be. Now that I betray myself less, I piss some people off. 

Norm: How many times in your various careers have you experienced rejection? How did they shape you?  

Renee; Too many to count! Oh, they were all terrible. But, I learned and grew from all of them. Instead of breaking me, rejection makes me stronger.

It makes me enter into, "I'll show them" territory. And God forbid anyone ever tell me I can't do something! That just makes me that much more intent on doing it.

And, in hindsight, every single person, job, situation that rejected me was not right for me, and set me up to learn exactly what I needed to learn and to grow in exactly the places I needed to grow in order to call in the person, job, situation that fit me. 

Norm: What did you find most useful in learning to write? What was least useful or most destructive? 

Renee: I had the most wonderful English teacher (who has a cameo in "The Burn Zone") when I was high-school. He was adamant that we learned all the rules of grammar--and once we had, he told us to break them.

He encouraged us to have our own unique writing style. As a trained "good girl" but a secret rule-breaker, I found it delectable to not only be allowed to break the rules, but encouraged to.

This was the most useful thing to me in learning to write.

The least useful/most destructive was my perfectionism. I had to learn to ignore it and just write "crap" with lots of errors. And I had to learn to trust that the crap with lots of errors would eventually turn into writing I loved without errors. (A great editor helps!) 

Norm: What helps you focus when you write, and do you find it easy reading back your own work?

Renee: Coffee helps me focus. I love it so much! Coffee and a beautiful environment (either my patio or an outside cafe with a garden.)

I do find it easy reading back my own work because I have learned to judge it less and less. Once my manuscript hits the editing and proof-reading stage I am usually sick of it--then I find it difficult to keep reading my own work. 

Norm: When did the idea for Still on Fire first emerge?

Renee:  It started to emerge as I was on the plane flying home from my very last stop on the book tour for "The Burn Zone."

I was texting some girlfriends about what eventually became the Introduction of "Still on Fire" and one of them replied, "Oh my God, Woman! You are still on fire!"

As the manuscript took form I realized that was my title, and that many of my readers not only wanted to read about my travels, but also about my romantic life. 

Norm: What were your goals and intentions in this book, and how well do you feel you achieved them? 

Renee: My biggest goal was to encourage people to be in joy and to have fun. I also wanted readers to feel inspired to live a life they truly love.

Detailing some of the crazy mistakes I've made and some of the near-death experiences I've had, I was hoping readers would be less afraid to make leaps of faith.

As I wrote I prayed that wise, truthful, light-filled, soul-soothing words would pour through me out onto the page.

And I wanted to make it fun and funny. I do think I accomplished it. The feedback I have gotten so far is that it's a wild page-turner and that people will earmark it to return to words of wisdom. 

Norm: What was the most difficult part of writing this book, and  what did you enjoy most about writing this book?  

Renee: The most difficult part was to keep going. The writing was such a jumbled mess, compiled over three years. I had trouble seeing how it was ever going to turn into a complete manuscript.

I wanted to quit so many times, but my heart and my readers would not let me. Another difficult part was trusting it would be okay to put so many intimate details of myself and my life out there for the whole world to read. I was raised to "be a lady" by a very Catholic mother.

The idea of exposing what happened behind the closed doors of my bedroom scared me at times.

It forced me to practice what I was writing about: being authentic; not feeling shame around my life, my body, and my mistakes; we are only here in these bodies for a short time and we are supposed to truly live; sharing our stories can help heal others, etc.

I would say this last part is also what I enjoyed most about writing this book: the liberation of being completely myself--being a wide open book. And meeting the incredible team that formed to help me birth this book into the world. 

Norm: What makes your memoir stand out from the crowd?  

Renee: It's so raw, so vulnerable, and so authentic. "Book Reader" wrote about The Burn Zone, "Easily the best memoir I've ever read." Which was quite a review. I have been told people are so drawn to my writing because my soul speaks to theirs.

This is my intention. I want people to feel not-all-alone and to see their stories in mine. Even though I still have some self-doubt (and probably always will) I do believe "Still on Fire" will touch readers the same way "The Burn Zone" did. 

Norm: Did you write the memoir more by logic or intuition, or some combination of the two? Please summarize your writing process

Renee: I wrote it by intuition. I just kept writing what called to my heart or repeated itself in my head, and I trusted that the mess I was writing would form into a book.

I knew from The Burn Zone process that if I kept writing it would turn into a book I loved. It took longer than I thought it would, but eventually it happened.

My writing process is to write every time I feel inspired to. I heard once that people get writer's block, but they don't get "talker's block."

That helped me so much. So I blab through my fingers (I type really fast) when I feel inspired to. I don't worry about people reading it. I don't worry about errors.

I just blab away until no more words are leaving my hands and then I save the document and file it in "New Book." When I have hundreds of entries in "New Book" I begin to read through them, put them in order, expand on some, and trash others. Eventually I call in an editor and ask for help. 

Norm: Many people have the skills and drive to write a book, but failure to market and sell the book the right way is probably what keep a lot of people from finding success.

Can you give us 2-3 strategies that have been effective for you in promoting your book? 

 Renee: My number one strategy is: Hire a great PR and marketing person. I know it's expensive, but it's worth it. I highly recommend Javier Perez of Page-Turner Publicity and Fauzia Burke of FSB Associates.

My second strategy is social media. Honestly, I would not be on social media if I didn't need to be in order to have a public presence (the introvert in me wants to spend large chunks of my life not interacting with the outside world), but I do think social media is important.

Third would be have an easy-to-navigate website. I use PubSite, which is made for authors. 

Norm: Where can our readers find out more about you and Still on Fire?

Renee: On my easy-to-navigate website (smile emoji here) www.reneelinnell.com

Norm: What is next for Renee Linnell?

Renee: Life! Graciously and joyfully embracing whatever unfolds. Right now I'm in the throes of book launch publicity. After that I will continue to work on the third book in this trilogy, Twin Flames. I'll be spending the month of November in Buenos Aires, one of my favorite places to write. 

Norm: As this interview comes to an end, if you were organizing a literary dinner party, which three writers, dead or alive, do you invite, and why?

Renee: I love your questions!

I would invite Rumi, Kahlil Gibran, and Hunter S Thompson. Rumi and Gibran would be so soul soothing and enlightening in their wisdom and mysticism. And Thompson would be such a pop of color.

 I love all three of them for their authenticity, their intense alive-ness, and their Truth. And all three are masters of word craft. 

Thanks once again and good luck with all of your future endeavors.

Follow Here To Read Norm's Review of  Still On Fire